Tag: Superannuation

Posts Tagged ‘Superannuation’

Super young or super old – it’s important to know how your Super works.

Whether your Super Fund has been up and running for years or you just started learning the ropes, we’ll let you in on a few rules you should know.

Know that there is a Superannuation Guarantee.

Employers are typically required to contribute to your Super Fund at a rate of 9.5% of your ordinary time earnings*. It’s even been rumored that this rate will increase to 12% in upcoming years.

*Ordinary time earnings are what what employees earn for their ordinary hours of work. These include over-award payments, commissions, shift loading, and certain bonuses and allowances. Overtime is not considered part of ordinary time earnings.

Know that there are two types of Super contributions.

Concessional Contributions are payments made to your Super prior to your income tax being taken out. These contributions are taxed at a flat rate of 15% once they enter your Super fund and include:

Want a clue as to where you can find your lost super fund?

It sounds mad; you lost your money. However, it’s more common than you’d think. In fact, in 2015, more than 17 billion dollars worth of super funds went unclaimed.

So the question is, how is it that easy to lose so much money?

The biggest culprit in losing a superannuation fund is switching jobs. Each time you start a new job, it is more than likely that your employer starts a new super fund account in your name unless you say otherwise. But once you misplace your original super fund, there are still ways to go about finding it again. Let’s take a look.

#1. Check the Lost Members Register

Sure, you have a super fund. But have you not contributed recently or not heard from a provider representative in regards to your fund? You may very well be considered to be a lost member and not even know it. The thing about a super fund is that in order to remain an active member, you must do one or both of the following:

Confirm your address at least once within a two year time frame.

Indicate that you would like to remain a member of your fund.

If you have been inactive, unable to contact, or transferred from one super fund provider to another as a lost member, than you are most likely on theLost Members Register.

#2. Create a myGov Account

This is the most beneficial choice for you. On top of being able to locate any lost super, you’ll be able to see all super fund account overviews from one place and even combine multiple super funds into one ‘preferred super fund’. All you’ll need to do is create an account and link it to the ATO.

They say that money makes the world go ‘round. Are you reporting all of yours?

If you work (and even sometimes if you don’t), you lodge a tax return. On this tax return, the ATO requires you to declare your income. And you do. But are you sure you’re declaring all that you should be? It’s easy to miss a number or two. To help make sure you don’t, we’ve compiled a list of all types of income that should be declared on your tax return. Let’s take a look.

Employment Income to Declare

This is simply the money you earn from working. You’ll need to report this income whether you are a part time or full time employee. This type of income includes all of the following:

Dividends. These are paid to you as money, shares, and other property. A company issuing shares to you will inform you of whether the issue is considered a dividend or not.

Rent. This is to include the full amount of any rent and rent-related payments that you become entitled to or have received. That being said, you cannot declare defaulted rent unless it is in the form of an insurance payout or rental bond money.

Managed investment funds. This would be any income or credits you received from an investment product.

Capital gains. This amount is the difference between how much you paid for an asset and how much you sold it for.

Even if you end up getting a refund, chances are you’ll still end up paying taxes

Many working holidaymakers who only live and work in Australia for a short time leave Australia expecting to get all of their taxes back in the form of a refund. Many automatically assume that because they are citizens of another country that Australia won’t tax them.

Unfortunately, however, this is not true. Many are shocked to discover when they prepare their tax returns that they aren’t getting everything back or, worse, that they actually owe a large tax bill to the ATO. Here at E-Lodge “Why do I owe so much tax??!!” is a common query from nonresidents.

Everything depends on residency (for tax purposes)

Residency for tax purposes is not the same thing as residency for immigration purposes. You can be a citizen of a foreign country and still be an Australian resident for tax purposes. Tax residency depends on how long you have been in Australia and what you’ve been doing here. All the details of tax residency are a little beyond the scope of this article, but you can find more information in one of our previous blog posts. Read the rest of this entry »

A quick overview of which super benefits are taxed, which ones aren’t, and when you can get a tax offset

It’s no secret that super funds are complicated, especially when it comes to lodging taxes. It’s hard to know what gets taxed, what doesn’t, and when you can get a tax benefit from what.

This brief article isn’t meant to be comprehensive (and it’s probably a good idea to speak to an accountant or financial planner about your super) but hopefully this breakdown will give you a good idea of how your super can affect your taxes.

Super benefits breakdown

Super benefits have two components: a tax-free component and a taxable component.

The tax-free component, as the name suggests, is always tax-free. The taxable component, on the other hand, may be taxed, but it depends on the on your age and the size of the benefit. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many age and employment requirements you must meet before you can deduct personal contributions to your super fund

Everyone knows that your super is money set aside for retirement and that generally your employer makes compulsory contributions to your super. However, you can also put your own money into your super. This is what’s known as a personal contribution.

It is possible to claim a deduction for personal contributions to your super when you lodge your tax return, but only if you meet certain age/employment requirements. Generally you must be age 18-75 and self-employed – that is, a sole trader or a partner in a partnership. However there are exceptions to both of these rules.

Requirements for claiming the deduction

In order to claim the deduction for personal super contributions you must meet the following requirements:

The pattern set in other parts of this year’s federal budget, as noticed in part 1 and part 2 of our budget 2012 recap, whereby low and middle income taxpayers gain while the wealthy lose, is confirmed when we come to superannuation.

A clear indication of the Gillard Government’s aptly dubbed “Robin Hood” intent is its introduction of the Low Income Superannuation Contribution.

Starting on July 1st, 2012, those with incomes of $37000 or less, roughly four million Australians, will effectively pay zero tax on their super guarantee contributions.

The Government will accomplish this aim by providing each taxpayer who qualifies with up to $500 in annual super contribution, equivalent to 15% of the total eligible concessional contributions made by an individual or her employer to their super savings.